Are the days of Points collecting over?

[Tiki]

I did get good value for BNE-DRW-DIL. 36k QF + $300 in taxes. The ticket sells for around $1400 cash. Next year I will use QF points for BNE-HIR-BNE or at least one way if we do Solomon Islands to MUA and return back via HIR. This is another expensive ticket in Y so points are decent value if you get them anyways from Woolies.

 

[SOPOOR]

The days of points collecting are absolutely not over for me. I do find that I need to be very nimble, though, and I certainly don't rely solely on CC sign-up bonuses like I used to.

Flybuys is particularly useful: their bonus point offers are pretty good, and I can easily accumulate well over 100,000 Velocity points (which would usually convert to 65,000ish KrisFlyer points) per year.

But I might be a little different from other posters in that I'm more than happy to pay a 1% to 1.5% credit card surcharge -- that comes to about 1c per point on my AmEx Platinum, which is way, way less than what buying points would cost.

Im sure you know this but the 3rd pay bill payers
The fees are about 1.7%
You essentially have a endless pot of points to buy

 

[elanshin]

As strange as it might seem QFF isn't necessarily terrible but it also isn't the best in OW. Its just the easiest to collect in Australia for Australians. I know plenty of friends in NZ that absolutely trash on NZ's FF and collect KF instead (now that's a terrible FF rewards program- NZ).

Just curious, is there any major rewards program that hasnt gone through a devaluation post covid? (I don't think so right - its just how big).

 

[albatross710]

I feel that that level of spending control has gone too far towards the loyalty schemes. Once you remove the idea of earning points from a decision then you are much more likely to choose an alternate solution. For instance

Red Energy was giving me points per year but those 2,000 'free' points were costing me $200. I changed provider.

Giving up on QFF (and losing Gold) means my work flights to Asia have been with other carriers $500-$600 cheaper per itinerary.

Who is really in charge of the spending decisions? It's Qantas or Virgin or BP that they can send an email and people jump to change their spending to the new direction. That's the value of the frequent flyer programs.

I did some numbers on this recent BP promotion



Let's say it's me driving a modest but economical SUV driving 25,000 kms per year at 7 litres per 100kms.

I will need 1,750 litres of fuel each year at say $1.75 per litre = $3,000 / annum

So, as a consumer, if I exclusively buy BP fuel for the next 8 years I MIGHT be able to find a redemption ticket and still pay $110 in taxes.

ORRRRRR

Given that BP is usually more expensive in my area, let's say I just saved $0.2 per litre instead saving $350 per year and compared flight prices. I can actually fly once per year just for NOT buying BP.

For me personally I have started ignoring both Velocity and Qantas promotion point offers and just enjoy the cost savings from outside those schemes.

 

[Happy Dude]

The game has been slowly dying for non-business owners for many years now.

There are still some opportunities to earn decent points but the opportunity and value to redeem has diminished at a greater rate. Many have reasonably concluded that the juice is barely worth the squeeze.

 

[aikman]

I remember the days when I would ask family members to pay their bills through my credit card so I get the points. These days it's hardly even worth putting my own expenses through the credit card.

 

[dajop]

With some schemes I’ve found some sweet spots with short haul economy, particularly in Europe (UA miles on LX, BA avios on BA, VS points on SK). Flying Blue on QF . For QF points, since the introduction of Classic Plus though I’m not entirely convinced that the availability of Classic Awards has stayed the same, my gut feel is the become unavailable quicker than they did in the past (compared to $$ fare levels), although could reflect demand or the times I am looking rather than anything particularly deliberate on QF’s side…

But beyond Australia the US market, where they hand out both status and points like candy is killing premium award availability globally. The wholesale abolition of award charts have seen aspirational awards move basically to cash back type programs. This doesn’t only apply to airline programs, the rapid decline in value of of hotel loyalty points over the last few years is for the same reasons. For example, whilst not impossible I am finding it increasingly difficult to find anything other than direct proportionality between cash and points for Marriott at least within a city. Some cities do seem to have better multiples than others though.

 

[BenP]

I don't think the days of collecting points is over as whole. My personal view is it is a combination both on the consumers and the programs need to change
I think most people have to change their perspective of how play the point games both on the earning and redeeming side. On the earning side I think people have to weigh up the cost/benefit of getting the points (both monetary and non monetary) vs what you can spend the points on. On the spending of points
1. I feel people need to stop expecting it to be like it was 5-10 years ago when premium cabins where easy to get. The pool of people looking for the sames seats is probably a lot bigger just the other day I saw someone say they 'needed' 3 business class seats to Europe next summer, my 1st thought was fat cough** chance going direct
2. Stop 100% believing the marketing of the point redemptions - Is it possible to get to Europe in J using points yes is it likely to be when you want to go.
3. Stop blindly following what some 'expert' values a particular point, if you want to travel on points/stay somewhere accept that you might not meet this number and that you may have to pay more. Most points are a sunk cost - you have already spent money on something else to earn it. If you need a toaster and you don't really want to spend your $ on something else using points is possible a good conversion for you
The next points I don't expect to happen at all unless they are forced to (either by regulation or market forces)
4. The airlines in particular need to be a little bit more upfront and disclose actually how many seats are available for point redemptions on each major destination. It doesn't need to be each flight but something as simple as over the next 12 months we will have a minimum of X number of seats to London etc
5. Confirm exactly when the seat releases are - I've heard conflicting things from they normal pattern is still being applied to they are in random batches

Finally I still think there is still a place in the point collecting game for people for those who want to play but they need to accept that the rules have changed and will keep changing

 

[andye]

With some schemes I’ve found some sweet spots with short haul economy, particularly in Europe (UA miles on LX, BA avios on BA, VS points on SK). Flying Blue on QF . For QF points, since the introduction of Classic Plus though I’m not entirely convinced that the availability of Classic Awards has stayed the same, my gut feel is the become unavailable quicker than they did in the past (compared to $$ fare levels), although could reflect demand or the times I am looking rather than anything particularly deliberate on QF’s side…

But beyond Australia the US market, where they hand out both status and points like candy is killing premium award availability globally. The wholesale abolition of award charts have seen aspirational awards move basically to cash back type programs. This doesn’t only apply to airline programs, the rapid decline in value of of hotel loyalty points over the last few years is for the same reasons. For example, whilst not impossible I am finding it increasingly difficult to find anything other than direct proportionality between cash and points for Marriott at least within a city. Some cities do seem to have better multiples than others though.

Agree
Both hotel programmes and US airlines are moving away from what, for me, is the most compelling aspect of FF programmes: arbitrage (both redemption and status)
BA and to some extent VA seem to he following
The trouble with cashback-type programmes is that they don't engage the consumer in the same way. Often the biggest winners are those whose travel is paid for and they have relatively little choice with whom they fly/stay.
My hope is that they end up realising they risk killing the golden goose and switch back.

 

[Kangol]

$3k business return to Japan

When was this offered? I clearly missed it

 

[CaptJCool]

As Australian based programs, short of being Able to get out of Oz, the sweet spots offshore because there are less QFF members vying for the tics (eg like Iberia (Vigo to Marrakech via Madrid or Munich or Düsseldorf) etc

 

[SOPOOR]

I've always found flight availability on Premium to be hard to get but not that much different these days

However, I don't have a business or have access to one to accumulate points, but all these deval, surcharges, churning restrictions has made it near pointless

Eg i used to do multiple ways to get miles cheap
But right now its only bonus on wine from qantas or the supermsrket gift cards on some weeks, or paying random bills

This may have stopped my chances of flying premium in the future. Unless i pay a high % of ticket price